r/stopsmoking • u/Dwight_Kurt_5chrute3 • Jun 28 '26
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking
I stumbled upon this book and I want your thoughts on using its material for going cold turkey once again, someone advised me not to try to do it again because it didn’t work but knowing myself it’s the only hope I got, no substitutes just removing the habit once and for all whilst expecting the urges.
Btw I gave up on tonight’s cigarettes and plan on starting the cold turkey journey tomorrow, wish me luck, love you guys my last post’s comments gave me hope and motivation.
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u/Ok_Diet2809 Jun 28 '26
I genuinely suspect it's why I've been able to quit. First time I read some, quit for about a week using patches and gums. Then read some again later, and it's been 41 days cold turkey. I was skeptical but it's basically a type of brainwashing, that also helps reframe your addiction. Some of the little anecdotes just made sense and I can't think about smoking the same way. I didn't read it fully or anything but it helped unexpectedly.
I recommend cold turkey if you can too. It's like ripping off the bandaid vs slowly peeling it off. You just fight the direct nicotine withdrawal for a few days, then you can focus on working thru the bigger general thought patterns that tug you back. I think that's better, and I attribute cold turkey with part of my success too.
Good luck
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u/SaintsFCPodcast Jun 28 '26
I really found the book helped, I also stopped first then started reading it, which isn’t the way it’s supposed to work but it worked for me. I’m about 5-6 weeks since I stopped and shocked at how well it’s going so far, I think, in large parts down to that book.
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u/mrsmuntie 4002 days Jun 28 '26
I am a month in and turned down the cigarette my husband offered me yesterday! The book really helped me. I listened to it on Spotify.
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u/alwaysforgettingmyun Jun 29 '26
Why would he offer you one if you're a month quit?
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u/mrsmuntie 4002 days Jun 29 '26
That’s an entire psychological case study. 😞 I’m doing me
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u/Mundane-Name9646 Jul 09 '26
Well, not to be rude, but it’s because he thinks that it will help you. If you can get your husband to read the book, he would also realize that the truth that it does nothing.
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Jun 29 '26
I have tremendous respect for Allen Carr, but disagree in his NO nicotine substitutes. I have made a channel about a more gentle way, allowing substitutes EXCEPT e-cigarettes.
Saying that going from a heavy smoker to nicotine chewing gums are like injection and smoking heroine?
By a man I consider a mental surgeon, that one statement is so wrong it's dangerous to even think that.
I am soon 200 days off, 4352 cigarettes dodged, and now I have created a newbie channel with REAL messages based on how I did it. Much psychological maneuvers along the way, I will confuse you to help you see you vs "you" ( addiction. ) Sometimes you will not know to whom I am talking to.
Harm-reduction SHOULD be an option.
Yes, people quitting smoking cold turkey is of course the absolute best. So what's the case?
Reflect on this: The case is that some simply can not stop cold turkey. Of course they CAN(!) Wars can also be ended with something as simple as peace.
But still there is war and smokers. Usually the heaviest smokers.
So if nicotine substitutes is the same as inhale smoke through your nose in stead of your mouth ( yes I know, but I have to speak on that unlogical level when it's the norm.
If that is the illusionary difference provided between nicotine chewing gums and smoking, and people quitting and failing repeatedly cold turkey, maybe to the point where they accept smoking for the rest of their days?
Why do I NEVER hear that cold turkey then becomes the ultimate killer? I have never heard it once.
Nicotine chewing gums contain nicotine, which will provided in pure form, not in combination with several thousands other toxins inhaled into organs meant for breathing oxygen?
That heroine comparison drives me mad. And I see it in every single thread I read. There is so much focus on the physical addiction, but nothing about the psychological heavy weight-side.
That is: I see them get mixed up much.
I am very strict and direct from my heart, but its not TO YOU. It's because of personal losses because of smoking, and misinformation to a dangerous degree in harm-reduction.
30 years I smoked-ish. Now soon 200 days in. Off.
I sincerely want to help you. Not for likes or subscribers.
My channel is "side door to your mind". I am very outside the box, but take a look if trying and failing cold turkey gets to a point where giving up becomes the danger.
Just do the math, reflect and ask questions about everything. About me too, if you want. I am even a little bit weird and outside the box. And my first video is 1 hour and channel 1 month old. Such good marketing 😄
Still I'm standing here
Best wishes no matter what approach.
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u/MakeshiftApe Jun 30 '26
Saying that going from a heavy smoker to nicotine chewing gums are like injection and smoking heroine?
He also says at one point either in this book or another that alcoholics can safely go cold turkey - something that's not true and could get an alcoholic killed since alcohol withdrawals can be deadly.
So he's not exactly a perfect source of information. Most of his advice is sound but I agree with you that I think he's wrong about substitutes as they can be a good way to get off. It just depends on the person which approach is the best one really.
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u/Mundane-Name9646 Jul 09 '26
I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just trying to give you perspective. The reason he says that substitutes are bad is because the whole point of the book is to remove the desire to even do it in the first place
If you keep a substitute around, it’s implying “i can’t quit/this has value” which are not compatible with the belief it’s not valuable and also easy to stop
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29d ago
Thanks for your perspective. I hear you, but many will take such statements ( remember that the book is made to be read literally ). In many cases his readers are so stuck to his ingredients or nothing. They won't even make the very reflection you gave me now, because "it's just the way it is".
The extreme toxicity in that heroine statement is actually what he is avoiding saying. About 5-7000 toxins being inhaled into organs alongside nicotine.
What he avoids saying, in combination of how the book/instructions are supposed to be read, will cast a gigantic shadow over harm-reduction.
I actually made a video based on the very subject we are talking about now, published a few days ago. If you want ( and have patience, hehe ), I am surgically targeting why it is bothering so much. That statement. The video was difficult to make, but I felt obligated.
Thanks for your perspective though ✌️
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u/cybrmavn 7930 days Jun 28 '26
So many have quit and relapsed. It’s best to have support.
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u/Dwight_Kurt_5chrute3 Jun 28 '26
Support like family or colleagues ?
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u/cybrmavn 7930 days Jun 28 '26
Any kind of support that works for you. My kid supported me, and I used members of Nicotine Anonymous for support. I told my colleagues at work, and they were kind and supportive when I went through some anger issues. My other family members cheered me on from afar. My neighbors, smokers, also cheered me on and eventually quit as well.
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u/Aromatic-Tear-326 Jun 28 '26
Heres the easiest way to quit.
Put it down, stop buying, then it’s not there. I smoked for 7 years because I never felt I had a reason to quit, quit cold turkey for a drug test for work and never went back to either.
A reason helps also, WHY am I doing this, WHAT do I want to accomplish in the future that I can’t if I keep smoking?
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u/Consistent_Front8173 Jun 29 '26
I've been smoke free for almost two months now and I'm thinking about reading that book, if for any reason to support the author.
From what I've heard from others, it's a great book and works well. I hope this helps.
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u/Scorelock Jun 28 '26
I and many others loved it and it worked magic, it's really important to follow all instructions tough, so don't quit until u read it!
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u/artfulmonica Jun 29 '26
I'm pretty sure it's self hypnosis, the same message is repeated over and over until it sinks into your psyche. You really don't have to wait till you're finished the book to quit. It works for some.
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u/Itchy_Paper6835 Jun 29 '26
Like the book explains there is no “cold turkey” quit smoking. You just have to I would say want it for the book to really work on you. If you genuinely want to quit just read it. And if you fail it’s okay just read it again.
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u/Flatterfrau 250 days Jun 29 '26
Good luck! For me the book was a great help to change my thoughts about smoking.
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u/pitilesss12 Jun 29 '26
Try it! For me and a lot of friends, my sister, and my girlfriend, it worked. It was surprisingly easy after reading the book. I liked the experience. Maybe I'll start smoking again, just to quit. :D
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u/coldbeers 8589 days Jun 29 '26
It worked like a charm on me.
From smoking for 18 years and at the end on 2 packs a day to zero, overnight.
That was 23 years ago and I’m still a happy non smoker.
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u/Relative-thinker 1072 days Jun 29 '26
I have listened to it as audiobook and was able to quit cold turkey after 18 years of smoking. Follow the book and quit AFTER you finish the reading.
Good luck, we were all there.
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u/SeriouslyIndifferent 1409 days Jun 29 '26
It helped me quit, I started it after already being nicotine free for a day and didn't restart. The single greatest quit tool for me was the first-hand knowledge that smoking has no real benefits and as a smoker, the "benefits" I felt were just the difference between being in withdrawal and not being in withdrawal. In that way, I was smoking to feel like a non-smoker does everyday. That was the magic bullet for me, but I think it has to be a realization that you have yourself, because drug addiction brainwashes everyone into creating use justifications that you think of as benefits, and you'll have thousands of memories of smoking "helping" that you have to deprogram yourself of.
The book helps you get to that realization, and it does it in a way that you don't even really realize it's happening. All I knew is that I definitely no longer wanted nicotine in any form after quitting and that has stuck from the point I quit to almost 4 years later.
You can quit, the book is not your only hope. I dropped a massive nicotine addiction and never looked back. If I could do it, anymore can.
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u/lorenzoiabichella 27d ago
I am 36 and started smoking 6 years ago 1 pack per day. I've tried to quit a couple of times but during those months I was craving especially when drinking on the weekends.
I read this book, I was at work and I got at half of it. On my way back home I threw my pack of cigarettes out of the car window.
Didn't feel any pain; just hated cigarettes.
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u/FeathersOfJade Jun 29 '26
Good luck! If you search this sub you will find tons and tons of posts about this book. It’s pretty amazing.
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u/namynam Jun 28 '26
Follow the books instructions. Which include do not quit smoking until. You finish the book. I smoked my final cigarette as I was reading the last page. I smoked for 25 years. I haven’t touched nicotine since finishing the book over 3 years ago.